Texting in School: The Gr8 Db8 Revisited Irina Averianova, Nagoya Business University, Japan GloCALL 2011

Cell Phone - History

Cell Phone Statistics - worldwide mobile phone subscriptions RankCountry or region Number of mobile phones % of population Last updated -WorldOver 5 billion2010 1China906,800, June India840,280, May United States302,947,09896Dec Russia220,550, February Brazil217,300, June Indonesia168,264, May Japan107,490, Mar. 2009

Instant Messaging-Development messages per customer per month % of all mobile phone users worldwide use Short Message Service (SMS). Finland, Sweden, Norway - 90% of the population The European average - about 85% trillion

Texting as Electronic Discourse: Written Speech Spoken Writing (Hybrid, A new computer style, Internet Slang, Internet language, Net speak, Chat Room Shorthand, Tech-talk, Nu English) DISCURSIVE DRIVES  Economy of writing  Linguistic relaxation  Maintenance of orality in the absence of direct auditory interaction

Electronic Discourse ABBREVIATION SIMPLIFIED SYNTAX :Incomplete sentences: Need 2 go; been watching ya; “Contracted” contractions: dont, whats, that’s EMOTICONS (SMILEGLYPHS, SMILEYS) :-) “smile” :’-( “crying” :-* “kiss” :-O “surprise, shock” :-D “laughing” “screaming” >:-O “angry/yelling >:-( “angry/grumpy”

Texting – Linguistic Profile Initialisms Words N – no Y – yes W – with W/O – without W/E – weekend GF - girl friend Phrases NP - no problem FTF – face to face Sentence OMG – oh my God! SWDYT – so what do you think CMB – call me back

Texting – Linguistic Profile Contractions attn, rgds, sb, sth, Clippings lab, rep, Jan, Sat, pic Vowel omission Gd – good, pls – please, xlnt -excellent Logograms 29t (tonight), 8, 4u

Electronic Discourse in SMS  il b kmg dar 2 mor 2 c S cz I need 2 giv her dr buk kmg wif P vl meet 2 k g’n8 (-: (I’ll be coming there tomorrow to see S, because I need to give her the book. Coming with P. We’ll meet too ok? Good night.’)  YYSSW - yeah, yeah, sure, whatever  SWYRT - so what do you think?  - I will be home at 2 o’clock)

Txtng: The Gr8 Db8 (D. Crystal, 2008) My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we used 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :- kids FTF. ILNY, it's a gr8 plc (In translation: "My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend and their three screaming kids face to face. I love New York. It's a great place.") (BBC News, 4 March, 2003)

Texting in academic writing xs cmpnstn fnds wl b nvstd 4 srvvng fmly mmbrs (In translation: “Excess compensation funds will be invested for surviving family members.”) (I. Berman, 2006)

Texting in academic writing  Common disclaimer phrases (called “parantheticals”) ofn contract in2 ACRONYMS – they tend to certain points in a sentence which can facilitate decoding. Some e.g.s.: IMHO – In my humble/honest opinion…  Lol, btw, b/c (N. Baron 2009) $, &

Texting – Other problems  Cheating University of Maryland, College Park, 12 students Hitotsubashi University, 26 students England, 287 school and college students  Multitasking  Disruption

Texting – Benefits  Teenagers read and write more (B. Bass, Maryland Writing Project, 2002)  Additional experience in writing (D.Crystal, 2009)  Diversity of writing: “A new generation of teenage writers, accustomed to translating their every thought and feeling into words” (H.Helderman, 2009)  Revising and editing (G. Jacobs, 2010)  Top writing platform >>> Increased motivation of writing tasks

Texting – Concerns  Code-switching  Knowledge of traditional writing conventions  Communicative awareness  Texting etiquette  Differentiation between creativity and normative language use

NUCB Survey – 40 faculty, 64 3 rd -year English Majors SMS, MMS, “Never” or “Almost never”? Teachers Students 48 % never send 4 % 32 % never receive 4 %

NUCB Survey Do we need to use cell-phone for teaching and learning? Agree DisagreeNot sure Teachers 2.8 % 54.3 % 42.9 % Students 47 % 3 % 50 %

NUCB Survey Students SHOULD NOT use cell-phone at school AGREE Teachers Students 75 % 60 % DISAGREE Teachers Students 8.5 % 11 %

What is texting today? “Linguistic decline”, “Crisis” Nu English, language of the future PURISM OR FLEXIBILITY? 2b or not 2b ?  Innovative research!  Innovative practice!